Enchantée's and Lattes
by EmotionalPanda
Summary: AU. Cosima and Delphine meet in a crowded cafe.
1. Chapter 1

January 11th 2015

It's winter when Delphine stumbles across a small cafe in the middle of town. It's freezing outside, the chill of the air seeping into her fingers, maybe she should've worn something a little warmer. She probably should've thought to bring a pair of gloves, she thinks. Her hands ache for the warmth of a cup of coffee.

The door dings when she opens it, signifying her entrance._ Oh no_, she thinks. It's packed.

Delphine's eyes wander around the coffee shop trying to settle on a place, any tiny little space where she could sit and not be practically in a stranger's lap.

"French Vanilla Latte for Cosima!" A barista yells in a rush, busy with the overload of customers. Delphine's curiosity gets the best of her, Cosima is an odd name after all. She wants to put a face to the intriguing name so she looks over to the counter. Delphine notices the woman, now holding the french vanilla latte. Her fingers are covered in multicolored rings. Her wrists decorated with jangling bracelets as the woman takes a sip of her recently ordered coffee. This woman, Cosima, smiles at her, catching Delphine's careful examination. Cosima starts walking to her, her hips sashaying to a beat only the smaller woman could hear.

"Hey, I'm Cosima." The woman says. Delphine already knows Cosima's name but accepts the introduction with, "Hello. I'm Delphine." Delphine holds out her hand, waiting for Cosima to shake it. "Enchantée, Cosima." Cosima grins and fails at saying the word back properly, her american accent ruining it.

Her brow furrows, "Hey, um, Delphine? Your hand's like...really cold, man." She starts moving her hands around as she talks, her bracelets click clacking with them. "Could I buy you a coffee? To...y'know like warm your hands and stuff, obvs. Oh! Or a tea of course. Tea's cool. There are tea people and then there are coffee people. Then there's me. I kinda go both ways." Cosima smirks but Delphine doesn't get the reference.

Delphine nods at Cosima's offer, appreciating the stranger's kindness. Cosima tilts her head to the side, "So...what'll it be? I got a French vanilla latte. French, I guess, and super sweet. You could get that, but I dunno...if you'd want to like...drink yourself, soo..." She laughs at her own joke. Delphine feels a blush creeping up on her cheeks from the compliment. "Black coffee is fine, actually. Merci."

A small smile forms on Cosima's lips, "Black coffee, hm? I guess that means instead of overly sweet and very french you must be dark, bitter, and super hot. Am I right or nah?" she jokes before she orders the beverage for the other woman. Delphine smiles but doesn't respond. _Is Cosima flirting with her?_ Delphine doesn't want to assume. She wonders if she wants Cosima to be flirting with her or not and she finds herself silently hoping that the other woman is. The thought confuses her for a second but she brushes it off.

Two minutes later, Cosima hands Delphine her coffee and laughs at how the barista was surprised at a plain black coffee order. "Apparently everyone orders whipped cream filled coffee milkshakes nowadays" Cosima says, "Guilty." Cosima holds up her latte, showing Delphine the whipped cream topping the liquid.

The cafe is still stuffed with customers, much to Delphine and Cosima's dismay. "Hey, Delphine?" Cosima asks after a second, "would you want to sit somewhere with me? I promise I'll stop with the coffee jokes." Delphine nods, taking a sip of her insanely hot drink. "Oui. Sounds good."


	2. Chapter 2

The two women search throughout the busy cafe and finally settle on a tiny corner in the very back of the building. "Whoa man this is like the perfect place to spy on people, uh-people watch, I mean. Spying sounds creepy...like look at that one guy over there." Cosima points to a bald man who is hunched over and seemingly glaring into his half finished cup of soup. "I wonder what his life is like. Does he not enjoy his soup? Is he pouring his anger out onto the noodles using his furrowed eyebrow evil magic? What did the noodles do? Do the noodles even have a lawyer? These are the important questions, Delphine." Delphine looks at the man across the room and giggles. "You're right, Cosima. The noodles are helpless and need to be properly represented in court. Otherwise the evil eyebrows have an unfair advantage." Delphine smiles into her coffee cup, aware of the absurdity of their conversation. _Hypothetical personified noodles? This is a first_, Delphine thinks.

Cosima clears her throat. "So uh, what do you do? Like are you in school or do you have a job or do you just defend things in soup cups for a living?"

"As I am too busy with my studies, I cannot defend things in soup cups nor do I have a job. I'm currently working on my PhD in immunology. It's rather difficult sometimes but I love the science."

Cosima's eyes light up, "Wow. Rad. I'm going towards my PhD too. That's so cool. I'm evo devo."

Delphine looks confused, "Evo...diva? I'm not sure-I mean, I don't think I've heard that term before-"

"Nah man, it's fine. Evo devo is like the shortened version of evolutionary developmental biology. Get it?" Cosima starts gesturing, "When I was younger and still living with my parents, they would hire babysitters for me to keep me from destroying the house with my science experiments...Even when I was like sixteen they wouldn't leave me home alone out of fear that they would come back to a house on fire or a room filled with shattered glass. It was kinda annoying, but one time I actually ended up starting a fire because I messed with some chemicals the wrong way and...yeah..The babysitters were always a little weirded out at first since most were around my age. They still got paid though so I don't think they really cared all that much..."

"Oui that is a little...peculiar, but reasonable for the circumstances."_ Cosima is a scientist_, repeats in Delphine's mind. She doesn't know why this thought brings her so much glee. She knows a lot of scientists, being a science major causes you to meet plenty of people interested in science. She's never been this excited about it...

Delphine shrugs it off as just Cosima seeming like such a nice, bubbly person. Cosima is passionate, more so than most scientists she's met before. That's it, that's why she's excited. Delphine tells herself.

Cosima sips her latte, "Yeah, my parents are worried about me still, even now. Like they want me to date someone because I haven't in like maybe, uh four years? But everyone I've gone on dates with is cool until I start talking science. They just look so bored, you know? How am I supposed to love someone who doesn't appreciate what I love most? It got annoying after a while so I just kinda stopped trying and focused even more on school. I guess that's why my friends Felix and Sarah always call me a geek..." She trails off.

"Non, non, I get it. Danny, my boyfriend-err, ex boyfriend, well he didn't understand either. I mean, he was attractive...in the physical sense. My parents loved him, but I do not believe I ever truly did. He would get irritated when I would spend the majority of my time in the lab or in the library. He actually um, gave me an ultimatum? Is that the word? 'Me or the science' He said. It was not a... 'smart move'. I am a PhD student and he was a..." Delphine pauses to search for the right word.

Cosima laughs, "An asshole? A cocky piece of shit? A douche who's unworthy of this hot piece of ass?"

Delphine playfully smacks the other woman's arm. "You're a cheeky one, Cosima."

Cosima looks down at her now empty coffee cup, almost disappointed. "Hey, I'd like love for this to not end right now, but it seems we've both finished our drinks...and the cafe's still like, hella crowded. Plus, I've gotta run, because I just realized that, shit, my class starts in like twenty minutes..." Cosima fiddles with her purse, searching for something. "Would you maybe..wanna do this type of thing again sometime? It's totally okay if you don't, obvs."

Delphine nods. "I could give you my number, non?"

Cosima grins, pulling out the pen she had been looking for. "I was kinda, uh, hoping you'd say that." Delphine finds a napkin the barista had given her earlier and writes down the digits of her cell phone number, handing it to Cosima.

"Sweet, dude. Shit, really gotta run now, Bye!"

Delphine watches Cosima leave, her dreads bouncing with her quick steps. The door of the cafe dings, signifying the other woman's exit. Delphine smiles softly at the space where Cosima used to be. A thought crosses through her mind.

_Hot piece of ass?_


	3. Chapter 3

**January 18th 2015**

Cosima wakes up in her apartment and realizes she had fallen asleep studying. The pen lodged down her shirt and the textbooks strewn across the floor make this evident. Maybe she shouldn't have stayed up until 4 in the morning talking to Delphine on the phone. Whoops.

Cosima doesn't regret the three hour long conversation at all. Delphine had proved herself an easy person to talk to and she didn't criticize Cosima's sometimes strange caffeine and exhaustion fueled thoughts. Staying up late wasn't unusual for either woman. Their majors were pretty demanding.

It would've been better if Cosima could have slept in this morning, possibly to continue the dream that might've starred a certain French blonde woman. Cosima curses her alarm clock and the calendar hanging up on her wall. "Visit Parents" was written in thick red marker on the eighteenth day of January. Cosima groans.

It's only a few hours later when she finds herself on the doorstep of her old family home. Cosima hesitates, knowing that as soon as she knocks the door will swing open and she will be face to face with her mother, who she hasn't visited in a while. _I've been like super busy_, she justifies, _with papers to write and lectures to go to and hot foreign girls to meet in crowded cafes._

Cosima knocks. She adjusts her skirt and scarf, trying to make it look like she didn't just throw any clean article of clothing on at the last second. Her mother would scold her for staying up so late and not sleeping enough if she knew. Cosima knows her mother cares and means well, but sometimes she could be a little overbearing.

The door swings open just as Cosima had predicted. Her mother immediately wraps her up in a hug. "Cosima! My baby girl is home! Come on inside, sweetie, it's freezing out! I made cookies!" Her mother ushers her dreadlocked daughter inside before quickly closing the door behind her. Her mother grins, "Wow. You're actually on time! Is the apocalypse upon us or did you just really miss your mother, hm?" Cosima twists her hand around in the air dismissively, "Yeah yeah. Y'know I'm just coming for the cookies, mom. Obvs." Her mother jokingly feigns being hurt from the comment, holding her hand to her heart and wincing.

Cosima drops her purse on the counter next to her. "Where's dad? I thought he'd be here too." Cosima ponders aloud, taking a bite of a chocolate chip cookie.

"Oh, yeah. Your father's out buying a tux for the wedding. My friend Trish's wedding, remember? It's in a few weeks, Cosima. Don't forget." Her mother paces around the living room connected to the kitchen, looking for something. Cosima's eyes widen as she remembers. Shit. She completely forgot about that. Whoops.

Her mother notices her reaction but doesn't say anything. "You do have a date for it... don't you?" She asks, waiting for Cosima to respond with the usual "no". She is never going to be able to watch her own daughter get married, it seems.

Cosima bites her lip and she shrugs with a sheepish grin. "I...err-uh, no. I haven't dated in like uh, four years.." she mumbles. Did having coffee with Delphine count as a date? Cosima wasn't sure.

Her mom either doesn't hear or wants to make her daughter admit it again. "Mm, what was that, sweetie?"

Cosima looks down at the crumbs of the cookie she ate, embarrassed. Instead of repeating her previous words, she blurts out, "I, um, have a girlfriend." Cosima knows there's no going back now. She has to come up with something to support the lie that now hangs around her in the air mockingly. She just wants to make her mother proud of her for once. _Apparently working on a PhD isn't enough..._

"Oh how wonderful! This is the first time in years, Cosima! Oh, you must invite her to come dress shopping with us! What is this darling girl's name?"

Cosima panics and spits the first name she can think of out of her mouth.

"Delphine."

Shit.


	4. Chapter 4

**January 19th 2015**

Yesterday was the day Cosima lied to her mom about having a girlfriend. Cosima has no idea what to do now. Delphine is not her girlfriend. Delphine is definitely not her girlfriend. She's probably straight anyway. Cosima doesn't want to hope. Crushing on straight girls is dangerous and painful. She'd rather have a pencil in her eye.

After hours of moping about, contemplating any future course of action, she comes up with an idea. She could ask someone else what they think about her situation. Someone who lives close to her apartment...someone like...Sarah. Sarah. There's a start.

Cosima had texted Felix last night in a panic, the screen lit up with blue bubbles filled with exclamations of "OH SHIT FELIX SOS" and "I MIGHTVE GOTTEN MYSELF INTO SOMETHING NOT HELLA. I REPEAT. NOT HELLA." Felix had not responded since, Cosima figures he must have went out partying and passed out. Cosima sighs. She pulls out her vividly green cased phone, noticing the lack of responses from Felix as she expected, and decides to send a quick text to Sarah.

"Hey Sarah. Is it morally okay for someone to tell their mom that they're dating someone they're not actually dating? Asking for a friend, obvs."

A grey bubble pops up. "Christ, Cos. What did you do?"

A second later, another one, "Come over before you get yourself into more trouble, yeah? ur supposed to be the smart friend, ya silly tit"

Cosima smiles at her phone while typing a response, "k be there in five."

Cosima arrives fashionably late at the other woman's apartment. She knocks and while waiting, checks her phone for any signs of Felix possibly being alive. Still nothing.

Sarah opens the door, running her hand through the top of her hair in mild frustration. Before Cosima can say anything, Sarah mutters, "yeah yeah, 'kinda always late' you don't need to repeat that shite every time, yeah?"

Cosima strolls in, noticing the lack of a small child running around, before questioning, "Hey, where's Kira?"

"Fee has her. He owed me a favor and Kira wanted to hang out with her Uncle Felix anyway, said somethin' 'bout him letting her watch Rupaul's Drag Race or somethin'...Never heard of it, but what the hell..."

Cosima stifles a laugh. "I err-know what that is-uh, nevermind"

Sarah gives her a questioning look and continues, "and yeah uh, I told Fee to turn his bloody phone off for once in his damn life while he watches my little girl. He's addicted to some app, like you'd think the app was a bloody drug or somethin' like, Christ. Said he was 'on the B list, Sarah, you wouldn't understand!' or whatever. He's bonkers if you ask me." Sarah lightly punches Cosima's arm, "Hey, wanna tell me 'bout ya new girlfriend?" seasoning the question with a charade of kissing the air dramatically.

Cosima looks down at the floor and mutters, "I'm screwed, okay?"

Sarah teasingly glares at her, "You bloody will be _screwed_, but not in the way you're usin' the term right now. Come on, Cos. Don't go getting all boo-hoo on me now, alright?"

"But Sarah! I messed up, like really bad. Like, I can't just ask Delphine to pretend to be my girlfriend, that'd be insane. But...my mom looked so happy when I accidentally said that. I just, don't want to let her down, yknow?" Cosima plops down on the couch next to Sarah and folds her arms.

"If anyone could pull this shite off, it's you. Call the damn girl right now or I will. I swear-" Sarah holds her hand out so Cosima will give her the phone.

"Jeez, man. Alright, Alright. I'll do it. But only because I know if you do it it will make this about a thousand times worse. So." Cosima digs into her pocket to retrieve her phone. She scrolls through her contacts before coming across Delphine's number. She lets out a deep, anxious sigh before clicking it and waiting.

A second passes before a voice comes through. "Hello? Cosima?"

"Hey um, this is crazy, but..." Cosima's heart starts to race and her words begin to jumble. "will you be my girlfriend...err _pretend_ to be my girlfriend for one or maybe like two days... my mom's giving me shit for not having a date to this wedding thing, and yknow you're sciencey and hot it's believable...I promise it won't be weird, the cake will be rad as hell it's like chocolate but vanilla too with some mocha it's like a threesome of flavors man, shit. I'm rambling. I am so so sorry. I'll shut up-"

Delphine clears her throat. "Uh, pretend...to be your girlfriend. I heard that correctly, yes?" Cosima nods shamefully before realizing the other woman can't see. "Uh, yeah. Actually. I know it's like, really weird, but-"

Delphine cuts her off with a blurted out, "Oui. I'll do it."

Both women stare at their respective phones in shock before hanging up, throwing their phones far away from them as if the devices had caught fire.

A single thought runs through their minds.

_What just happened?_


End file.
